The description is a good one and while most of us focus on his incredible silk production from the tube, his handling of the 20th Century silks is a strong one!
Similarly, Tony Marks had a multiple silks version of the 20th Century ( chain of five if I recall correctly) that is well explained in "The Aristocrat of Deception' by Bee Bergeron.
Either version would be great today and have so much more impact than the conventional handling.

Also note that Duval worked FAST.
Most silk productions are far too slow.
The paused display of each silk as it appears, was wrong back in the 30's and 40's and even more so today. Professionals such as Duval, knew how to properly PACE their acts.

visit me @ JNealShow.com

Bill HegbliEternal Order
Fort Wayne, Indiana
22362 Posts

Posted: Feb 1, 2019 02:17 pm

0

Looks like the book is still available direct from Bev Bergeron website. $43.00 postage paid in U.S.

If you want to learn some great classic magic, see how a professional set up his material, then get this book. It will surprise you. His table is worth the price alone.

Quote:

In this fantastic book, Tony Marks explains his entire act in such detail that it is easily followed, including never before exposed magic from his act including
Production of a large (16 lb) rabbit in the middle of a nightclub floor.
Floating a large rabbit about the stage and then vanishing it into mid-air!
Bird appears in clear plastic tube.
Twentieth Century Silk performed not once, but THREE times in a row!
The destruction of a borrowed watch and its restoration.
The inside workings of Tony's box and tips:
Setting up the Act
Rehearsing the Act
A walk-through of the Act
Care and handling of Rabbits and other livestock
Tony gives good advice
Tony take you behind the scenes of performing magic on the road for 40 years.
PLUS: A slight history of the nightclub and early TV era as told by Tony Marks, his wife, Rosita, and friends: Jay Marshall, George Boston, Dr. John Booth, Jack Kodell, Billy Bishop, Don Arthur and Bev Bergeron, editor.

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Feb 1, 2019 08:18 pm

0

Magicpedia has an interesting comment:

"The original "Rhapsody In Silk" act was sold by Duval to Adolfo Cerceda, who performed the routine with his partner as "Marcel et Petit". Cerceda retired in the 1970's."

I wonder if there is video of the Marcel et Petit performance?

Bill HegbliEternal Order
Fort Wayne, Indiana
22362 Posts

Posted: Feb 2, 2019 03:39 am

0

Adolfo Cerceda, who's stage name was Carlos Corda. I seriously doubt there was any video of him.

Supreme Magic in England, now defunct for many years, marketed his appearing silk in bare hands effect. I have it and it works very well. FISM winner Vito Lupo "borrowed" it and sold it at his lectures years ago. That is the only marketed effect I know of that was sold under his stage name as inventor.

Searching under his real name, there is Origami book published under his real name.

According to this information found here, there are many references to his magic in this article.

So just for curiosity I counted up how much silk was produced in the finale of this routine. If my calculation is correct, it comes to just over 38 square yards of 6 momme silk, much of it hand-dyed. This was all done in 2 minutes 45 seconds. Yowser!

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Feb 2, 2019 08:46 pm

0

Just a little more perspective.

Paul Diamond's Symphonette in Silk is about 25.5 square yards assuming 18 inch fountain of silks and 12 inch 100 yard streamer as the large productions. That is typically a 5 to 10 minute act. Of course it isn't a pure production routine as it includes color changing silk with vanishes and sometimes serpentine silk.

Slydini's Symphony in Silk would be about 7.5 square yards in 3 minutes assuming 23 18 inch silks and 3 ft x 5 ft flag. That is a pure production.

So Ade Duval really flew! Would have been something to see.

JNealInner circle
I used to have 999 posts, now I have
1452 Posts

Posted: Feb 3, 2019 01:28 am

0

There might be video of Carlos Corda doing the act, as he performed on MILT larsens Its Magic annual show in LA and many of those were videoed back in the day.
But getting access to the tape if it exists might prove difficult.

visit me @ JNealShow.com

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Feb 3, 2019 01:54 am

0

Quote:

On Feb 2, 2019, FrankFindley wrote:
and 12 inch 100 yard streamer as the large productions.

Oops. I meant 100 foot not yard! Would be nice to have a football stadium length streamer!

Does anyone know how big the final production silk is in Fantasio's Sullivan show routine? Is it 10 foot by 12 foot?

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Aug 16, 2019 10:47 pm

0

Quote:

On Feb 2, 2019, FrankFindley wrote:
Just a little more perspective.

Paul Diamond's Symphonette in Silk is about 25.5 square yards assuming 18 inch fountain of silks and 12 inch 100 yard streamer as the large productions. That is typically a 5 to 10 minute act. Of course it isn't a pure production routine as it includes color changing silk with vanishes and sometimes serpentine silk.

So I just received a copy of the paper lecture notes for Symphonette in Silk. In it they state a six foot square was produced before the streamer! This wasn't mentioned on the video. So that adds 4 more square yards to the total bringing it just under 30!

hugmagicInner circle
7363 Posts

Posted: Aug 17, 2019 08:33 pm

0

You need to look at Chanin's "Silks at our fingertips". It is a great non apparatus routine for multiple silk productions. He teaches many techniques that are useful in other productions. The entire routine is recommended to be learned in segments.
I saw Paul do his Sympohenette in Silk years ago. The lecture notes are terrible. More of an outline than how to do it. Many of the ideas in the lectures were originally Chanin's.
I do remember seeing Abb Dickson get a 12" x 100" 4 momme streamer from a Coke can.
BTW if you want a 300' streamer I can make it, though you probably would not like the price. Silk comes in 100 yard bolts so a football field length is possible.

Richard, Paul Diamond's silk magic is offered by www.LLePub.com, he explains the coke can production on the DVD download, and many other silk effects.

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Aug 18, 2019 08:46 pm

0

Quote:

On Aug 17, 2019, hugmagic wrote:
You need to look at Chanin's "Silks at our fingertips". It is a great non apparatus routine for multiple silk productions. He teaches many techniques that are useful in other productions. The entire routine is recommended to be learned in segments.
I saw Paul do his Sympohenette in Silk years ago. The lecture notes are terrible. More of an outline than how to do it. Many of the ideas in the lectures were originally Chanin's.
I do remember seeing Abb Dickson get a 12" x 100" 4 momme streamer from a Coke can.
BTW if you want a 300' streamer I can make it, though you probably would not like the price. Silk comes in 100 yard bolts so a football field length is possible.

Thanks for the info! I have one just shy of 150'. It will fit into a can using the Rosini style silk winder I got from you last year. Great product!

300' streamer is tempting but just yesterday I ironed about three quarters of the silks I have. I try to do that twice a year. I am a little early this year but picked up some silks from an estate as well as a beautiful but crumpled decades old silk flags-of-nations set with much larger flags than normal.

Poor estate silk:

Iron on #6:

Much better:

Flags after a good ironing:

This was about 30 square yards of silks and took a little over 3 hours of ironing. I don't think I could handle another 33.3 square yards!

Quote:

On Aug 17, 2019, Bill Hegbli wrote:
Richard, Paul Diamond's silk magic is offered by www.LLePub.com, he explains the coke can production on the DVD download, and many other silk effects.

Yep. You need both the lecture notes and the video lecture to get a good understanding of the act. The lecture notes contain more details on the actual routine flow which is not given on the video lecture. For example, the video doesn't go into the six foot silk or the use of a color changing cane in the routine. But the lecture notes don't contain enough depth on each part. For example, the video goes into the proper way to wind the silk on the winder and the type of confetti to include in fountain.

Now for the remaining 25% of ironing...

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Aug 18, 2019 09:25 pm

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FYI. The Chanin book is included in my askalexander/conjuring arts membership! Thumbing(err, clicking) through it, there is a lot of great material; using regular assistant/impromptu assistant/no assistant, handling giant silks, body load positions, even stack of fish bowls production. It will be a great read!

Bill HegbliEternal Order
Fort Wayne, Indiana
22362 Posts

Posted: Aug 19, 2019 11:05 am

0

Frank, you will get rid of the wrinkles more if you use the steam setting. You should also hold the silk taught as you move iron.

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Aug 19, 2019 08:08 pm

0

Quote:

On Aug 19, 2019, Bill Hegbli wrote:
Frank, you will get rid of the wrinkles more if you use the steam setting. You should also hold the silk taught as you move iron.

100% agree. The estate silks were so crumpled I had had to do them part-by-part before I got to the point I could pull them taught. I normally use steam but decided to experiment with just medium heat this time. It was 90 degrees outside and decided to keep the windows shut (definitely better to do in Spring & Fall lol). I was worried the silk could be burned without steam but had no issues. The unabused silks still came out pretty good.

I also discovered another benefit of diamond silks...less ironing!

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Aug 19, 2019 11:47 pm

0

Back on topic of Ade Duval, saw this intriguing statement in the June 2016 SAM Assembly report for Philadelphia:"Dick Gustafson and his lovely wife Joanne capped off the first act with their breathtaking homage to Ade Duval and his Rhapsody in Silk."

Anyone catch this act?

FrankFindleyVeteran user
390 Posts

Posted: Aug 19, 2019 11:55 pm

0

I know JNeal mentioned it but didn't dawn on me that it was so current and nearby. This from 2015:

"Dick Gustafson and his lovely wife, Joan, capped off the evening by performing Ade Duvalâ€™s beautiful A Rhapsody in Silk, set to the music of George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein â€“ a brilliant routine that had not been performed since Duval retired it in 1937 and which was painstakingly recreated by Dick after countless hours of research."